“Back in my day I used to say, ‘Sherry is not what your grandma drank – it’s much more than that’,” says Richard Harvey as he prepares for the annual Sherry Fiesta at Metrovino, his wine store that has occupied the space behind the Cookbook Company on 11th Avenue SW for the past 20 years.

“Now, I don’t even make that reference. For a lot of people, sherry is a revelation – less and less people have the baggage my generation associates with it.”

It was trendy in the seventies, and now Sherry is making a comeback, particularly among younger wine drinkers learning about its different styles and wide range of nuances, and the traditional, artisanal systems required to produce it over its 3,000 year history.

Harvey and his small team are expecting a room of 17 guests for the fiesta, a talk and tasting leading up to Sherry Week, an annual global celebration showcasing the fortified southern Spanish wine through a network of public and private events in bars, restaurants, tabancos and wine clubs worldwide from Nov. 7 to 13. The only rule is that the wines must be from the Domination of Origin of Jerez-Xeres-Sherry or from the D.O Manzanilla of Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

“We’ve said it before – without exposing yourself to the multifarious experiences of this wine you will not have fulfilled the bucket list of wine experiences,” it says in the class descriptor. Harvey pours from six different bottles, the liquids in each glass producing a surprising range of colour. All but the last, a moscatel, are dry, belying its reputation for sugary sweetness. They are each unique, complex and delicious – no comparison to the industrial brands and imitation Sherry that most often comes to mind.

“Sherry is a great cooking beverage, but it’s also a great wine,” Harvey says. “It has more umami than any other wine I know.”

Richard Harvey of Metrovino.-

On this particular night, the tables are set, and there will be visuals – images of Spain, of the terroir, of the bodegas that house barrels of Sherry, even a sample of the soil from the region of its origin. And Harvey has stories of his travels – of the man serving up paper cones of steamed baby shrimp, just caught, that they ate like popcorn on the street in Jerez along with their afternoon Sherry, of the fermentation techniques and the architectural complexities of the bodegas, and even of the mice that lived in one, who actually climbed a tiny ladder to drink the Sherry itself.

Next week, the events will be spread out over six days of Sherry speed-dating; starting on Monday, Metrovino will pause daily at 5 p.m. for a glass of Sherry, paired with tapas from restaurant partners including Ox and Angela, CharCut, Bar C and the new Bar Von Der Fels. Anyone can stop by after work and participate for just $5; one of Metrovino’s in-house Sherry devotees will be there for a quick chat on the wine and the pairing.

“It’s done that way in Andalusia, in the south of Spain, the home of Sherry,” Harvey says. “Around five o’clock you stop and have a drink and a little nibble, then you go on to tapas or go back to work for a bit before dinner.”

With the best selection Sherry selection in Canada – he counted about 27 on the shelf – it’s a great opportunity to get reacquainted. “It’s mind-bogglingly beautifully complex,” Harvey says. “There’s just so much history, and so many stories attached to it.” And many of those stories will be shared next week – with a glass of the good stuff, for the price of a coffee.

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